Alex Atala (Milad Alexandre Mack Atala, born June 3, 1968 in
São Paulo, Brazil), is a Brazilian
chef who runs the restaurant
D.O.M. in São Paulo. In May 2012, D.O.M. was rated the 4th best restaurant in the world by the
S.Pellegrino World's 50 Best Restaurants,
published by
Restaurant magazine.
His establishment also holds the title of "Acqua Panna Best Restaurant
In South America." He's known for transforming traditional Brazilian
dishes, adopting French and Italian culinary techniques to native
Brazilian ingredients. Atala also hosts a television show on Brazilian
TV channel
GNT.
ALEX ATALA - the most highly-rated South American chef of
D.O.M. - a regular chart-topper on the San Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurant Awards :
# 7 (2011) , #18 (2010), #24 (2009) , #40 (2008), #38 (2007), #50 (2006).
Guest Chef at The Sukothai, Bangkok :
“Filled with energy and creativity,
Alex Atala, chef owner of the prestigious
D.O.M. Gastronomia Brasileira
in Sao Paolo, has become known in Brazil and around the world for
thoroughly exploring the culinary possibilities of local Brazilian
ingredients, uniting its classic basis to completely new techniques.
Alex began his career at the age of 19 as a chef in the Namur hotel
school in Belgium and worked at Bruneau Restaurant, owned by 2-Michelin
Star Chef Jean-Pierre Bruneau, and also with the legendary Chef Bernard
Loiseau at the Côte D’Or Hotel in France. In 1994, he returned to
Brazil with a great desire to find his own culinary identity. At the end
of 1999, Alex opened D.O.M., the contemporary restaurant with an
original cuisine in harmonious balance between the classic and the
modern, the known and the wild. Thus began a new era in Brazilian
Gastronomy, that of The New Brazilian Cuisine.
D.O.M. has recently been ranked 7
th Best Restaurant in the World by The S.Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2011, moved up from 18
th
last year. It is the 6th time D.O.M. has been included in this review.
The restaurant also holds the title “The Acqua Panna Best Restaurant in
South America”.”
Bangkok is blessed with many high-profile chefs visiting the Mandarin
Oriental and the Sukothai each year. While Oriental’s Le Normandie
tradtionally focuses on bringing ‘traditional’ 3 Michelin chefs , mostly
from France , the Sukhothai borders on being adventurous and thus at
the forefront of current state of the gastronomic art. Alex Atala was
one such ‘big name’ that was the most highly-anticipated chef to arrive
in many years, not least because , let’s face it, most of us aren’t
going to be visiting Brazil anytime soon.
We were thankful that Chef Atala indeed brought many of his signature
dishes, packing into his suitcase rare Amazon ingredients like
‘Filhote’ fish, ‘heart of palms’, Chibe – Brazillian cous-cous,
producing
one of the most exciting and accomplished meals we had in 2011, including 2 ‘TO-CRY-FOR’ dishes!! NOW, we have to visit his restaurant in Sao Paulo!
A menu by Alex Atala is almost an entry into the Wikipedia of Latino
Ingredients. Like Noma, Chef Atala is proud to eschew usage of
ingredients like foie gras, caviar which would be ‘too easy’ for chefs
of this caliber in this day and age.
(streelife.com)
Books
- Por uma Gastronomia Brasileira - Alex Atala - Editora Bei, 2003 - ISBN 85-86518-35-2
- Com Unhas, Dentes & Cuca - Alex Atala - Editora Senac, 2008
- Escoffianas Brasileiras - Alex Atala - Editora Larousse Brasil, 2008 - ISBN 978-85-7635-254-9
D.O.M. is a
Brazilian cuisine restaurant in
São Paulo run by Brazilian
chef Alex Atala. Known for the use of native
Brazilian ingredients,
D.O.M. has been considered the best restaurant in
South America for the last four years by
Restaurant magazine,
and since 2006 included in the
S.Pellegrino World's 50 Best Restaurants list. In May 2012, the restaurant reached the 4th place in the prestigious list.
The chef Alex Atala researches the ingredientes used in his
restaurant and supervises himself its production in various parts of
Brazil. Some of these ingredients are: Tucupi juice,
pirarucu and piraíba fishes, the herb jambu and the tapioca from manioc flour.